- Where
- Brunei River, Bandar Seri Begawan
Brunei - Coordinates
- 4.89° N
114.94° E - Area
- About 10 km²
- People
- 10,250 (2016)
about 28,000 in 1981 (Wikipedia) - Recorded
- Antonio Pigafetta, 1521
- Getting there
- Water taxi from the city waterfront
a few minutes across - Best visited
- Year-round
- Advisory
- Brunei Level 1
A long narrow boat with an outboard skidded me across the brown river in no time and dropped me at a ladder. Up top, a whole town stood on stilts: plank walkways, washing, pot plants on every veranda, a school, a mosque, children racing past on the boards. Over the river a golden dome caught the evening. Beneath my feet the tide was talking to itself among the posts.
The short answer
Kampong Ayer (Kampung Ayer, Malay for “water village”; Kampung Aing in Brunei Malay) is a traditional settlement of neighbourhoods built on stilts over the Brunei River in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, close to the city centre. It covers about 10 square kilometres and had 10,250 people in 2016, Wikipedia records. Its houses, schools and mosques stand above the water, joined by an extensive network of walkways and bridges on stilts, of wood, concrete or metal; where wide channels separate the neighbourhoods, people get about by motorboats called perahu tambang, water taxis. It has long been nicknamed the “Venice of the East”.
Why it's worth knowing
A capital on the water. A water settlement on the Brunei River was the main settlement of the Bruneian sultanate’s capital perhaps as early as the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah, 1363 to 1402, and a significant port, Wikipedia records. In 1521 Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian chronicler of Magellan’s expedition, described it as “entirely built in salt water”, with twenty-five thousand hearths, its wooden houses “built up from the ground on tall pillars”. The Dutch navigator Olivier van Noort, there in 1600–01, wrote that the nobles’ houses stood on piles so light that they could be moved from one side of the river to the other; the settlement may not always have stood where it stands now.
A town, not a museum. Kampong Ayer has its own schools, including Awang Semaun Secondary School, which Wikipedia describes as the only secondary school of its kind built on the water, as well as mosques, police stations and fire stations. Houses have electricity, piped water and telephone lines, and since 2017 fixed wireless internet has reached them, because cables strung from house to house were often stolen. Wooden houses close together over water burn easily, and fires are common, most often blamed on faulty wiring.
Shrinking. Under the British Residency, Brunei’s government encouraged Kampong Ayer’s people to resettle on land, without much success at first and with more later, Wikipedia records. The population fell from about 28,000 in 1981 to 13,000 in 2011 and 10,250 in 2016; Wikipedia’s account notes concern for the survival of its customs and community, and rubbish and sewage in the river as a continuing problem, in spite of collection schemes and treatment works upstream.
The field notes
Houses for the water
Kampong Ayer’s houses follow the style of traditional Malay houses, up to two storeys on stilts, and were once built of local hardwoods such as nibung, kulimpapan and bulian, with roofs of palm leaves, Wikipedia records. Older types have their own names: the rumah belah bumbung, a commoner’s house of the nineteenth century with an inverted-V roof; the rumah tungkup, with a roof wrapped round all four sides, associated with the nobility; and the two-storey rumah loteng, whose attic was used for weaving and crafts. Houses built after the discovery of oil brought new materials and plans, and public-housing villages such as Kampong Bolkiah are laid out more like estates on land.
The gallery over the water
The Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery, opened on 19 August 2009, tells the settlement’s history and crafts, among them pottery, woodwork and weaving, Wikipedia records; most visitors reach it by water taxi from the city waterfront. The village’s neighbourhoods carry old names that record who lived there: dignitaries’ titles, the trades of their craftspeople (Kampong Pandai Besi, the blacksmiths’ village), and the rivers and landmarks nearby.
The village's mosque and the river bridge at dusk, June 2023.
Photograph: Pangalau · CC BY-SA 4.0
A stilt mosque and painted houses above the river.
Photograph: Balou46 · BN-bsb-kampong-ayer · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped
Stilt houses at dusk under the power lines, May 2023.
Photograph: Pangalau · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Hail a water taxi from the riverside steps, settle the fare before you step down, and sit still in the middle.
- The walkways run past people’s front doors. Greet whoever is sitting outside, and keep moving.
- Count the water taxis while you count the houses. (Both counts collapsed before the next walkway. I have begun a list of lists instead, which is going well.)
- Cover your knees and shoulders, and speak quietly near the mosques.
- Linger on the river as the light goes, when the lamps come on along the boards and the boats head home.
The walkways on stilts. Kampong Ayer’s neighbourhoods are joined by a long network of walkways and footbridges raised on posts above the Brunei River, built of timber, concrete or with metal stilts, Wikipedia records. They are the village’s streets: front steps open onto them, children run along them to school, and the water taxis tie up at their ladders. Underneath, the river rises and falls with the tide.
Tally, in the marginEvery board gave a little underfoot, and every one, I supposed, was somebody’s to mend. I found myself stepping as lightly as I could, the way you walk through a house where a baby is asleep, until a woman on her front step laughed, kindly, and told me to walk properly.
Getting there
How to get there. Brunei International Airport is on the edge of Bandar Seri Begawan. From the city’s riverside waterfront, water taxis cross to Kampong Ayer in a few minutes, and boatmen also offer longer tours of the village and the river; travel guides give the short crossing as about one Brunei dollar and tours as negotiable (as indexed). Agree the fare before setting off. Once in the village, the walkways are the streets.
When to go. Any time of year: Brunei is hot and humid all year, with rain in every month. Mornings and late afternoons are cooler and the light is best on the water. During Ramadan, eating, drinking and smoking in public during fasting hours is against the law, visitors included.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing in particular. Check the gallery’s opening hours, which travel guides give as shorter on Thursdays and Fridays (as indexed), and remember that on Fridays shops and offices close from midday to 2 p.m. for prayers, the UK government’s travel advice notes.
Safety and local law. The State Department has Brunei at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; it calls Brunei generally a safe destination and notes that emergency response can be slow in rural areas (advisory dated 14 May 2026 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). Brunei’s laws are strict: the UK government’s travel advice (updated 19 March 2026, read 7 October 2026) notes that the sale of alcohol and tobacco is illegal, that public criticism of the royal family can lead to legal action, that same-sex sexual activity is criminalised, and that visitors should dress modestly. On the walkways, mind gaps and loose boards, and step carefully in and out of the boats.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Kampong Ayer?
Kampong Ayer is a water village of stilt houses on the Brunei River in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, close to the city centre. It is reached by water taxi from the city’s riverside waterfront in a few minutes.
How many people live in Kampong Ayer?
Kampong Ayer, Brunei’s water village, had 10,250 people in 2016, by Wikipedia’s figures, down from about 28,000 in 1981 and 13,000 in 2011, as residents have moved to the land.
How old is Kampong Ayer?
A water settlement on the Brunei River may date to the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah (1363–1402). In 1521 Antonio Pigafetta, of Magellan’s expedition, described the Bruneian capital as built entirely in salt water, on tall pillars, with twenty-five thousand hearths.
How do you get around Kampong Ayer?
Kampong Ayer’s neighbourhoods in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, are joined by walkways and bridges on stilts. Where wide channels separate them, people travel by perahu tambang, small motorboats that work as water taxis, charging fares like taxis on land.
Is Kampong Ayer the largest water village in the world?
Kampong Ayer has long been nicknamed the “Venice of the East”, and travel publishers such as SEAsia.co (September 2026) call it the world’s largest water village; no survey comparing water villages was found to support that claim. By Wikipedia’s figures it covers about 10 km² and had 10,250 people in 2016.
What is there to see in Kampong Ayer?
Visitors to Kampong Ayer, in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, can walk its boardwalks, take a water taxi round its neighbourhoods and visit the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery, opened in 2009, on the settlement’s history and crafts. Most of the houses are private homes.
Are there fires in Kampong Ayer?
Yes. Wooden houses built close together over the water make Kampong Ayer in Brunei vulnerable to fire, and fires are common there, most often blamed on faulty wiring, Wikipedia records. The settlement has its own fire stations.
What should visitors to Brunei know about local laws?
Brunei, home of Kampong Ayer, is an Islamic monarchy with strict laws. The UK government’s travel advice notes that the sale of alcohol and tobacco is illegal, eating in public during Ramadan fasting hours is an offence, criticism of the royal family can bring legal action, and modest dress is expected.